Just curious are you using G glass or older Ais lenses? I have a 28mm 2.8 Ais and a 35mm F2 Zeiss ZF lens and of course you are not able to use 51 point 3D tracking with these lenses. You can only use single focus with these lenses. What type of glass are you using?

jonnyapple said:
Pete, I wonder why you can't sell that 40D. You speak so highly of it...
;-)

I might have lie a bit when I sell that one, maybe you could all think of some positive things I could say

Pete

Pete, I wonder why you can't sell that 40D. You speak so highly of it...
;-)

jonnyapple said:
Pete's right. The D300 is amazing with this, and on 51-point it seems like the subject can even go out from under the AF sensor and it's still tracking. Pete, didn't you say you tried a canon 7D? Out of curiosity, how did the focus tracking compare on that?

No that was none other than Niko that had a go with a Canon 7D and I think Alpha's dad bought one too. I have used (not sold yet) a Canon 40D and between these 2 no comparison. On the 40D you have either spot or 9 points, where 1 point will at times go between 2 subjects and the full points will catch sometime at the edge of the frame, overall the 40D can simply not maintain focus very well, maybe that new 7D is better who knows, I certainly don't care, I plan to stick with Nikon, just like the overall system

Pete

bmxdad said:
BTW your camera after you master these settings is simply fantastic at maintaining AF

Pete

Pete's right. The D300 is amazing with this, and on 51-point it seems like the subject can even go out from under the AF sensor and it's still tracking. Pete, didn't you say you tried a canon 7D? Out of curiosity, how did the focus tracking compare on that?
edit: Even on mostly static subjects this is useful (which is what I used it for--no BMX in my family ;-). You can lock on the subject, recompose, and even if the subject is moving slowly it will stay in focus.

BDD888 said:
I own a D300. Have owned it for over a year but have never used Dynamic Area AF. Always used either Auto Area or Single. When I tried Dynamic Area AF the chosen focus point stayed where it was. Even when the subject (my dog) moved from under the focus point. Should one of the other 51 points automatically become active? As long as my dog is in the frame? What should I be seeing happening in the viewfinder?

When I switch on Focus Mode C then the selected focus point tracks the subject. As "predictive AF" is automatically used.

To properly take pictures of a moving subject with your D300, you have to set your camera to Continuous Focus Mode (AF-C) like warprints stated and in that mode you will not see focus point displayed in your camera. I shoot my BMX and other action in Continuous Focus Mode (AF-C) only with 9 point dynamic(some times single point), for my shooting more points makes the area that the camera will look at to wide. But try different settings (custom a3 adjustment) 9, 21 , 51 or 51 3D tracking(slowest) depends how far to the sides that moving objects needs to be in focus.

BTW your camera after you master these settings is simply fantastic at maintaining AF

Pete

As I understand it, dynamic area AF is only fully functional when the camera is set to Continuous Focus Mode (AF-C). If you have your camera set with Single Focus Mode (AF-S), the dynamic area AF doesn't do much, because once the first focus point is chosen, it stays foucsed there (that's the point of Single Focus Mode (AF-S)

Take a look at http://www.nikondigitutor.com/eng/d300/index.shtml

I own a D300. Have owned it for over a year but have never used Dynamic Area AF. Always used either Auto Area or Single. When I tried Dynamic Area AF the chosen focus point stayed where it was. Even when the subject (my dog) moved from under the focus point. Should one of the other 51 points automatically become active? As long as my dog is in the frame? What should I be seeing happening in the viewfinder?

When I switch on Focus Mode C then the selected focus point tracks the subject. As "predictive AF" is automatically used.